In Memory of A Great Prankster and Uncle
by thecompletebookworm
Summary: Written for a-trip-to-honeydukes's Best Friends Challenge on the HPFC- James Sirius Potter is stirred on the morning of Uncle Fred's birthday by a tearful Fred. The two discuss his namesake.  How does Fred II compare to Fred I and does it really matter?


**"I always felt that the great high privilege, relief and comfort of friendship was that one had to explain nothing" Anonymous **

April 1st was never a happy day. You could never go the night without hearing heartbroken tears. It was another birthday that Fred Weasley I never reached. Another day that wasn't filled with his laughter. Another reminder of just what the war had taken from them.

James hadn't expected Hogwarts to be any different. He was surrounded by his cousins, who were all mourning Uncle Fred. It wasn't a surprise when he heard the muffled crying emitting from the Gryffindor common room. James trudged down the staircase expecting either Molly or Victoire. They were always terribly fragile today.

But it definitely wasn't one of the girls. Fred Weasley II was curled up in the corner armchair. It was odd, thought James. He had spent nearly every other April Fools' Day with Fred and he'd never seen him cry before. Actually James had never seen Fred cry at anything before.

James ran back upstairs to grab the "emergency" supply kit. It wasn't much. The cardboard box just held the comforts of home, some of Grandma's cookies, fireworks from WWW and the sleeping bags they used whenever Fred slept over, mainly on April 1st.

He came back downstairs and spread out the two purple bags across from each other on the floor. James relit the fire and sat down, waiting. Fred would be ready to talk only when he was ready. Odds are they wouldn't talk at all about Uncle Fred. They'd go onto to pull some pranks or crack jokes until all would be forgotten.

They sat in silence, drawing comfort from each other's company. After a while, Fred started sniffling, his tears slowly subsiding. "Sorry, about that," he said grabbing a cookie.

"What? I didn't see anything!" James replied stealing the cookie away from Fred regardless of the bucket filled to the brim right in front of them.

Fred shrugged and grabbed a different one. "Sometimes I just wondered if I'm good enough."

"Good enough for what? Fred, you're brilliant, no use denying it. If you try a bit harder, I bet you could even be cooler than me. You're a whiz at Charms. You're not too bad at Herbology. Even Minnie likes you and honestly I have a feeling if given the option, she'd send me straight home. You can-" James rambled trying to get Fred's mood back up.

"You know what I mean. Uncle Fred was brilliant. A prankster. A jokester. A hard worker. An amazing brother. Kind, Nice and Smart. What am I?"

James looked ready to cut in and tell Fred just exactly what he, was but Fred just kept plowing on.

"His boring doppelganger who can't seem to do anything right, who purposely frightens Roxanne all the time. I'm nobody compared to him," Fred finished hanging his head.

"We can deal with little siblings later. If you want to, you can even take Al to better your record. I'd over you Lily too, but Merlin knows what Mum would do if anything happened to her."

Fred smiled slightly at that.

"The rest of it, you've kind of already proven. I mean who would call you boring? Next thing you know people will be going around saying I'm not devilishly handsome."

"You're not." Fred interjected, the corners of his mouth turning upwards slightly more.

"I'm deeply wounded Fred. Your words are filled with harsh untruths that-"

Fred cut him off with a pillow to the face. "-Will haunt me until the end of my days. Yeah I know. You told me that last time and the time before that, oh and that other time and you have to remember-"

It was James turn to hit Fred with a pillow. "About those pranking skills though, I think we have to test them."

Fred responded to those words like they were a battle cry. "Are you ready to lose Jamie?"

"You're going down," James replied, relief at having his friend back already slipping into his voice.

They raced up the stairs, two at a time. James grabbed the invisibility cloak, his dad had bequeathed to him, while Fred snuck into Teddy's room and snatched the Marauder's Map from the front pocket of his trunk. They walked out of the common room together, arms around each other's shoulders. Within an hour, they had caused enough mayhem between the two of them to warrant a furious Filch and a taped-to-the-ceiling Mrs. Norris.

"I reckon Uncle Fred and Dad never did anything like that."

"Yeah, I bet we even showed the Marauders a thing or two."

"Don't get cocky, James. You're already so bigheaded; it's a miracle you can walk."

"Oh shut up! You're surpassing your namesake. I'm allowed to live up to mine. "

Pushing and shoving their way into the common room, the two cousins shared identical grins before heading up to bed.

* * *

><p>Hours later, in front of the pictures of all those that died in the Battle of Hogwarts, Filch was raging at Headmistress McGonagall over "those <em>evil<em> delinquents."

"Well they're definitely something."

Behind her, the portrait of Fred Weasley smiled in his frame.

**A.N. This was written for a-trip-to-honeydukes's Best Friends Challenge on the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenge Forum. My pair of best friends was James Sirius Potter and Fred Weasley II. **


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